NBAA Welcomes End of Government Shutdown

Washington, DC, Oct. 17, 2013 – National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) President and CEO Ed Bolen today issued the following statement regarding an announcement that President Barack Obama has signed into law an agreement passed by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to address the nation’s debt ceiling and end the federal government shutdown.

“For the past 17 days, the federal government has been shut down, and the consequences for business aviation have been devastating. Throughout this period, NBAA has tirelessly urged policymakers from every point on the political spectrum, both sides of Capitol Hill and both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to find some way forward. We welcome this agreement for ending the shutdown, because it brings a resolution to an untenable situation."

As the agreement was being finalized, Bolen spoke directly with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Huerta. NBAA has consistently raised alarm with Washington policymakers that the government shutdown has halted many vital services provided by the agency, greatly harming the aviation community; specifically, the situation led to the closure of the FAA’s U.S. Aircraft Registry, bringing a stop to the purchase, sale, import, export or maintenance of all aircraft. “While the agreement reached does reopen the government, it may be some time before services at the FAA and other agencies are fully restored to pre-shutdown effectiveness,” Bolen said. He noted that NBAA will keep the industry advised as to continuing shutdown-related developments at the Association’s online resource, nbaa.gov/shutdown, which NBAA developed and has kept up to date since the shutdown began on Oct. 1.

Bolen also noted that, while news of the agreement is most welcome, the Association and industry would need to continue to monitor developments in Washington. “The agreement to end the shutdown runs until the end of 2013, and it is part of a larger, ongoing fiscal-policy debate in Washington,” Bolen said. “That means we may be looking at the same circumstances that led to this shutdown in the not-too-distant future. As always, we will need to remain vigilant, and our industry will need to be ready to mobilize, just as the business aviation community did when the devastating impacts of this shutdown became clear.”